Effect of pre-implanted helium on void swelling evolution in self-ion irradiated HT9

Void evolution in Fe++-irradiated ferritic-martensitic alloy HT9 was characterized in the temperature range of 400-480 °C between doses of 25 and 375 displacements per atom (dpa) with pre-implanted helium levels of 0-100 appm. A systematic study using depth profiling in cross-section samples was conducted to determine a valid region of analysis between 300 and 700 nm from the surface, which excluded effects due to the injected interstitial and the surface. Pre-implanted helium was found to promote void swelling at low doses by shortening the nucleation regime and to retard void growth at doses in the transient regime by enhancement of nucleation of small voids. Swelling was found to peak at a temperature of 460 °C. The primary effect of temperature was on the nucleation regime; nucleation regime was the shortest at 460 °C compared to that at 440 and 480 °C. The growth rate of voids was temperature-invariant. Steady state swelling was reached at 460 °C between 188 and 375 dpa at a rate of 0.02%/dpa.